It is good to be back, even with all of the real life errands and headaches it comes with... My remond is going very well, although the water problem still has not had a final solution. The roof will be replaced though soon, which is a huge step and after that it will finish relatively quickly. I like the work of my Molokans so far.

Now I am finalizing plans also for a trip to Cilicia and Western Armenia! This has been on my agenda forever, and the day has finally come. I don't know how internet will be in these places, but I would like to try to log from different towns like Marash, Van, etc.

So an Armenian government official got mad publicly that the US condemned Armenia's problems in elections and human rights. He lashed out about President Bush's election and the Iraq abuses, saying the US has no right to critisize. I wonder if he has the guts to also say that things are fine in Armenia because they are better than in Turkey?? Sorry, but you have to compare yourself to what is right, not to those who haven't achieved that yet. For many years now a lot of Armenians console themselves by pointing out Armenia is doing much better than Georgia and Azerbaijan, when they should have been comparing themselves to the Baltics, Scandinavia or to what is right. Georgia may be taking a huge leap ahead of us if their new president actually follows through on his promises - which remains to be seen.

I did an hour of gardening this morning, and made virtually no progress. The jungle has exploded from all the rain in my absence, and I can hardly make a dent in it. Luckily, once it is tamed, my work will be much easier. I should of course just pay someone to do the one-time taming, but haven't... yet.